Phil Morrison | Sculpture
"The Poet"
Most people will undoubtedly recognize "The Thinker". It's one of Rodin's most famous pieces and one of the world's most recognizable sculptures. What most people don't know however is that it was originally named "The Poet". It was the foundry workers involved in the production of the bronze casting who first started referring to it as "Le Penseur" or "The Thinker".
With it's original name in mind I began the process of reinterpreting the sculpture.
Below is the poem that I wrote and etched into the back of the sculpture.
​
enter me through this
word shaped window
invited beam of light
seen through the delicate
unsettled efforts of dust
some sort of deep graffiti
this is my body
open book of longing
this is my body
hollow home of grace
a place to live unfinished
part canopy part cage
mostly dark cavern
full of sorrowful psalms
a mellifluous echo
rises out of here
like a word of
gratitude